I met Greg as a follow rookie two years ago. He has written in the past for Redleg Nation Blog. He has graciously offered to write his views of the Sunday Morning Tryouts. It is the how camp opens with baseball activities.
Fantasy Camp Sunday
One
of the most anticipated days of camp is the first one on Sunday morning, when
we start with one of the best moments of camp – seeing a Reds jersey hanging in
a locker with your name on the back.
That is followed by stretching (essential and painful) and three hours
of what is called “Practice Drills/Stations” in the program. This three hour session gives the pros a
chance to assess our “talent” (using that term very loosely) and gives the
campers numerous opportunities to try too hard to impress the coaches and
injure themselves before the first pitch.
Through the magic of Mike McFarland’s miniature hat cam, you can check
out the video of what it was like at each station.
Hitting – For most of us, this
is probably our favorite station, because this is the one skill that almost
every camper gets to practice before camp.
Tom Hume pitches from behind a screen about 30 feet from the plate, and
a strong performance can improve one’s draft position. It is said that hitting a baseball is the
hardest thing in sports, and many of us would agree. Veteran tip – if you are shagging balls in
the outfield, pay attention to the batter, not who you are chatting with. Chance
of injury – low (unless you ignore the previous tip).
Pitching – Under the watchful
eye of Jack Billingham, Don Gullett and Ted Power, our pitching aptitude is
evaluated. The ability to throw strikes
is highly valued by the pros, and for many of us it is an opportunity to
realize 60 feet, 6 inches is a really long way to accurately throw a baseball. Jack Billingham’s coaching advice to the
catchers – “don’t throw it back to the pitcher faster than he threw it’” The
session ended with several jokes that are not suitable for a family blog. Chance of injury – low (unless you are
catching).
Infield – Fielding ground
balls and throws on a regulation infield are skills that are not frequently
practiced in the days leading up to camp.
Ron Oester and Bobby Wine coached the infielders (“stay down, move your
feet, field the ball in front of you”).
During my session, Johnny Bench stopped by to give tips to the first
basemen (“don’t commit too soon, and don’t be afraid to come off the base to
get the ball”). Chance of injury –
moderate
Outfield Flies – this is the
highlight (or lowlight) of the morning session, as there is no good way to
practice catching major league fly balls in Cincinnati in December. Billy
Hatcher and Glenn Braggs supervised this station and uses a Jugs gun to shoot
line drives and fly balls to each camper.
The first one is usually fairly easy, but after that it gets
exciting. Combine major league fly
balls, a cloudless Arizona sky, a total lack of practice at this skill and 50+
year old legs can turn this station into one long blooper reel. For me, the hang time of some of these balls feels
like the run time of Stairway to Heaven.
Hitting a baseball may be the hardest thing in sports, but for campers
catching a fly ball is much more challenging.
Chance of injury – moderate.
Chance of embarrassment – extremely high.
After
going through the stations, the campers break for lunch, and the pros meet for
the draft. By 1:30p, we find out who our
coaches are, who are teammates are, who can play where, and by 2pm, we are on
the field for the first game. And the
anticipation begins again…
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